Who is the richest person in the united states?

According to Forbes list of billionaires, the richest person in the United States is Bill Gates. He made his money through Microsoft and is worth $56 billion.

If you want to find out about other billionaires, how much they are worth, how they got their wealth and where they are from, have a look at this site: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forbes_list_of_billionaires.

• Bill Gates

Bill Gates is described as many things including philanthropist, business magnate, author, investor, and the one time Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and the current non executive chairman of Microsoft. This is the software company that he and Paul Allen founded.

He has been ranked the wealthiest person in the United States from 1995 until 2009, apart from 2008, when he was classified as third.

Even though he is no longer CEO, Bill Gates is still the biggest individual shareholder: He has more than 8% of stock.

• Best known entrepreneur

As far as the personal computer explosion is concerned, Bill Gates is the best known and most successful entrepreneur in the industry.

• Criticism

Although Gates is much admired by thousands, he also has his detractors who are not happy with the tactics that he uses in business. He has been accused of being anti competitive, an opinion that has been agreed upon in the courts on more than one occasion.

• The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation

This was founded in the year 2000 and through there have been vast amounts of money donated to a number of different charities and research programs.

• Bill Gates' family

Bill Gates parents are William H Gates Sr and Mary Maxwell Gates. His mother was on the board of directors for the United Way and the First Interstate BancSystem, while he was father was a well known and distinguished lawyer.

Gates has two sisters, one older than him and one younger.

The richest person in the United States is still the microsoft owner Bill Gates with a net worth of $54 billion.